The present invention relates to video and image applications, and more particularly to a method for compressing or collapsing multiple dimensional data, for example, in video and imaging applications.
Video and imaging applications may store image and video data in a main external computer memory. The video and imaging data may include a multi-dimensional data array defining pixel values for a corresponding array of pixels in an image. Each data element in the array may have a value uniquely associated with a pixel in the same coordinate location in the pixel array of the image or video frame. Each data array may represent a visual feature, such as, color, texture, or hue, of the pixel array.
Video or image data may be transferred from the main external computer memory to an internal local memory for image processing. In some cases, only a subset of the pixel data may be requested. Therefore, loading an entire data array for the whole image may be inefficient and may waste a great amount of memory bandwidth to retrieve data and a great amount of internal memory space to store data that may never be used.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.